When I got to the mall I noticed the second kiosk the dead sea product sellers had was missing. Gone. Enter sick feeling in my stomach that they had upped and left.. and with me, minus my refund.
I rounded the corner and saw the kiosk I'd made my purchase from - still there. Immense relief. And as luck would have it, two ladies had their credit cards out, just making a purchase. Now no one saved me from these stealth salespeople, so I spoke up. I told them about the different websites with the unhappy customers, their no return policy, etc.. I wanted to save them. But ya know, some times you can't save people hell bent on being suckers. They got snippy with me and made their purchase.
I hadn't really intended to go in there like someone who downed 3 Red Bulls in 3 minutes, but that's how it happened. I delved right in trying to protect those gullible women from their purchase but my efforts were ill-received by the customers and the salespeople.
A male salesman came over to me while the other cashier closed the deal on those 2 customers who were willingly donating their money to the kiosk folks. I was unpleasant. Now, in his defense, he personally hasn't done anything to me, and maybe my tone wasn't deserved, but seriously, it's been one day short of 5 weeks waiting for my refund. I'd filled out a 4 page refund request and never heard anything. So maybe you can understand my unpleasantness. I'm not proud of it.
He said he didn't sell me the item. He can't credit me. He gave me reasons upon reasons why he couldn't refund me. For one he said Keren sold me the items (her name was on the receipt). I countered with if I return something to Wal-mart, I don't need to find the cashier that rang up my purchase in order to get a refund. A cell phone magically appeared and he walked away.
Well I'm standing my ground, waiting for the kiosk lady to finish up her sales. She was really prolonging those sales, purposely I'm sure, so she didn't have to contend with me. But I waited. And waited. And she had no choice but to turn her attention to me. She didn't speak English very well in our conversation - although when she was selling her goods, her English seemed pretty good. Maybe it's like their credit card machine - works fine for taking money, not so well for returning it (I was told initially that the machine wouldn't do credits the first time I returned to get my money back!).
The salesman comes back and starts doing something on the computer. I saw the word 'refund' on the monitor and I took out my credit card that I'd made the purchase on. I did so with a smugness that warmed my own heart. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but in my head I was patting myself on the back and saying 'you go girl'!
Apparently refunds are a 3 person job - I assume since they don't do them very often, it took the two sales people and the person on the phone to produce a refund for me.
The bottom line is this:
No mall security was called, nor were the police. I received no escort out of the mall and no directives not to return. I received a credit for the full amount of the ill-fated purchase on my credit card. SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here are some things I learned today:
I learned that sarcasm does not translate from English to Hebrew very well.
I believe I heard the phrase 'crazy bitch' in Hebrew. I can't be sure, but I'd bet my refund on it.
And a 'no refunds' policy doesn't mean no refunds. It means being creative and persistent and if necessary, a
כלבה משוגעת
That's crazy bitch for those of you who don't speak/read Hebrew. Translation courtesy of http://translation.babylon.com/english/to-hebrew/.
The case isn't closed though. I'm still going to complain to the malls about their sales tactics.
